NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Through Dec. 10, 25 US states have reported at least one Omicron variant case–Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

According to a newly published Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most of the several dozen cases appear to be mild.

The report, published on Dec. 8, offers the following: 43 cases of COVID-19 attributed to the Omicron variant; 25 (58%) were in persons aged 18–39 years.

34 of the cases (79%) occurred in persons who completed the primary series of an FDA-authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine ≥14 days before symptom onset or receipt of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result, including 14 who had received an additional or booster dose; five of the 14 persons had received the additional dose <14 days before symptom onset.

Six (14%) persons had a documented previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The most commonly reported symptoms were cough, fatigue, and congestion or runny nose. One vaccinated patient was hospitalized for 2 days, and no deaths have been reported to date.

Omicron appears to cause mostly mild disease: Early and anecdotal evidence

CDC does warn that many of the first reported cases of Omicron variant infection appear to be mild, although as with all variants, a lag exists between infection and more severe outcomes, and symptoms would be expected to be milder in vaccinated persons and those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection than in unvaccinated persons.

In addition, even if most infections are mild, a highly transmissible variant could result in enough cases to overwhelm health systems.